Backpacking in Yosemite National Park
39 documented trips · 111,584 total feet of climbing across all routes
Yosemite National Park at a glance
CaliPeaks documents 39 backpacking routes in Yosemite National Park, covering 696.1 miles of trail and 111,584 feet of cumulative climbing. Routes range from 2 mi (May Lake) to 48.2 mi (High Sierra Camp Loop), between 4,009 and 11,086 feet of elevation. The gentlest climbing is on Lyell Canyon at 300 feet of total gain.
The area is managed by Yosemite National Park (NPS). Wilderness permits are issued by Yosemite National Park (NPS) — check each trip page for quota and reservation windows. The most-recommended months across these routes are September, July, August.
May Lake
May Lake is the shortest backpacking trip in Yosemite: a 1-mile, 400-foot stroll to a 9,300-foot lake beneath Mount Hoffmann, the geographic…
Polly Dome Lakes
Polly Dome Lakes is Yosemite's quietest easy overnight: a 3-mile walk from the Murphy Creek trailhead past Tenaya Lake to a pair of small la…
Rancheria Falls
Rancheria Falls is Yosemite's easiest spring waterfall camp: a gentle 6.3-mile stroll around the north shore of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to a …
Glacier Point to Yosemite Valley
Glacier Point to the Valley is Yosemite's classic easy traverse: 11.5 miles from the famous overlook down the John Muir Trail past Illilouet…
Cathedral Lakes
Cathedral Lakes are two granite-ringed tarns at the foot of Cathedral Peak's iconic spire, 3.5 miles up the John Muir Trail from Tioga Road.…
North Dome
North Dome is the dome across the canyon from Half Dome: a 7,542-foot summit on Yosemite Valley's north rim reached by a gentle 5.2-mile des…
Ostrander Lake
Ostrander Lake is the dome-viewer's weekend: a gentle 5.7-mile walk from Glacier Point Road to an 8,500-foot lake on Horse Ridge, ringed by …
Pohono Trail
The Pohono Trail walks the entire south rim of Yosemite Valley: 13.7 miles from Glacier Point to Tunnel View, past the overlooks of Taft, De…
Sunrise High Sierra Camp
Sunrise High Sierra Camp sits on a mountainside above the Cathedral Range, 5.2 miles from Tenaya Lake past the Sunrise Lakes. It is the most…
Lyell Canyon
Lyell Canyon is Yosemite's easiest true backpack: 5.7 miles of nearly flat trail along the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne, through one of the la…
Young Lakes
Young Lakes is a chain of three lakes north of Tuolumne Meadows, tucked beneath Ragged Peak with the Cathedral Range in view — reached by a …
Chilnualna Falls
Chilnualna Falls is Yosemite's quiet waterfall: a 9.2-mile round trip from Wawona to the top of a 2,200-foot cascade on the park's lightly t…
Snow Creek to the North Rim
The Snow Creek Trail is the steepest way out of Yosemite Valley — 2,750 feet in 3.5 miles of exposed switchbacks from Mirror Lake to the Nor…
Upper Yosemite Fall
The Yosemite Falls Trail climbs 2,700 feet in 3.7 miles to the brink of North America's tallest waterfall — a short, brutal, spectacular ove…
Glen Aulin
Glen Aulin is the friendliest river trip in Yosemite: a 6.3-mile descent from Tuolumne Meadows along the Tuolumne River to a High Sierra Cam…
John Muir Trail to Yosemite Valley
The John Muir Trail's grand finale runs 22 miles from Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley, descending past Cathedral Peak, the Sunrise count…
Laurel Lake
Laurel Lake is the short-haul version of the Hetch Hetchy high country: a 7.1-mile climb from Beehive Meadows to a quiet forested lake that …
Waterwheel Falls
Waterwheel Falls is the Tuolumne River's most theatrical moment: at peak runoff the river launches over a granite step in a wheel of spray t…
Ireland and Evelyn Lake Loop
Ireland and Evelyn Lakes form one of Yosemite's finest moderate loops: 22 miles up Lyell Canyon, over Ireland Creek's forested shoulder, and…
El Capitan via Tamarack Creek
The back door to El Capitan: a 10.8-mile forested walk from Tioga Road to the summit of the most famous cliff in the world, with the Valley …
Lake Vernon
Lake Vernon is the reward for climbing out of Yosemite's quietest corner: a 19-mile round trip from Hetch Hetchy to a lake backed by an expo…
McCabe Lakes
McCabe Lakes is northern Yosemite at its most remote: 14.8 miles up the Pacific Crest Trail past Glen Aulin's waterfalls to a high alpine ba…
Eagle Peak
Eagle Peak is the North Rim's best-value summit: 6.3 miles and 3,770 feet up the Yosemite Falls Trail to a 7,782-foot viewpoint with El Capi…
Smith Peak
Smith Peak is Hetch Hetchy's summit walk: 6.7 miles and 3,500 feet of climbing through forest and meadow to a 7,751-foot perch towering over…
Vogelsang High Sierra Camp
Vogelsang is Yosemite's highest corner of the high country: a 7.2-mile climb up Rafferty Creek to a camp at 10,154 feet beneath Vogelsang Pe…
Little Yosemite Valley
Little Yosemite Valley is the backcountry camp below Half Dome: a 4.8-mile, 2,150-foot climb from Happy Isles past Vernal and Nevada Falls t…
Lake Vernon and Rancheria Falls Loop
This loop is Hetch Hetchy's grand tour: up out of the reservoir valley to Lake Vernon's granite shore, down through Tiltill Valley's meadows…
Half Dome via the John Muir Trail
Half Dome is Yosemite's bucket-list summit, and the classic backpacking approach is 8.1 miles up the John Muir Trail from Happy Isles: past …
Ten Lakes Basin
Ten Lakes Basin is a pocket of granite-ringed alpine lakes northwest of Tuolumne Meadows, reached by an 11.8-mile round trip from Tioga Road…
Buena Vista Range
The Buena Vista Range is southern Yosemite's forgotten crest: a 29-mile out-and-back from Wawona through Chilnualna's waterfalls to a chain …
Pohono Trail + Four Mile Trail
This route walks the entire south rim of Yosemite Valley and then some: the Pohono Trail from Tunnel View to Glacier Point, then the Four Mi…
Vogelsang to Cathedral Lakes Loop
This loop strings together Yosemite's high country greatest hits: Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang, down the Merced to Merced Lake, up past Washb…
Clouds Rest via Sunrise Lakes
Clouds Rest is the best view in Yosemite: a knife-edge granite summit that looks straight across at Half Dome's face — from above. The backp…
Eastern North Rim
The Eastern North Rim crosses the Valley's northern skyline between the Yosemite Falls and Snow Creek trailheads: 18 miles of rim with a det…
Happy Isles to Tuolumne Meadows (JMT)
This is the John Muir Trail's first act: 22 miles and 5,900 feet of climbing from Happy Isles past Vernal and Nevada Falls, below Half Dome,…
Red Peak Pass Loop
The Red Peak Pass loop is Yosemite's greatest southern circuit: 48 miles from Mono Meadow through the Clark Range's lakes, over Red Peak Pas…
High Sierra Camp Loop
The High Sierra Camp Loop is Yosemite's grand tour by foot: 48 miles linking all five High Sierra Camps — Vogelsang, Merced Lake, Sunrise, M…
Full North Rim
The Full North Rim is Yosemite Valley's skyline walked end to end: 29 miles from Old Big Oak Flat Road over the tops of El Capitan, Yosemite…
Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne
The Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne is Yosemite's great river trip: a 30.8-mile traverse from White Wolf to Tuolumne Meadows that drops into a …